Venezuela opposition to get oil money from US fund to finance anti-Maduro moves

CARACAS — Venezuela’s opposition on Wednesday said it would use a US-based fund to receive some of the country’s oil income in a key step to bankroll its efforts to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro.

The fund would receive income accrued by state-run oil firm PDVSA’s US unit Citgo Petroleum Corp. since last month, when US President Donald Trump recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state, said opposition legislator Carlos Paparoni.

Mr. Guadio, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, last month declared himself Venezuela’s interim ruler. White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday the United States would consider lifting sanctions on senior Venezuelan military officers if they recognize Mr. Guaido as interim leader. “If not, the international financial circle will be closed off completely,” Mr. Bolton wrote on Twitter.

Aside from one senior general, who recognized Mr. Guaido in a video and urged others in the military to do the same, most of Venezuela’s top military officers have not defected from Mr. Maduro.

Citgo, the eighth-largest US refiner and Venezuela’s top foreign asset, is in the middle of a tug of war as the United States has move to remove it from Mr. Maduro’s control and imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry.

“This is already quite advanced, I hope that next week it can be announced by our representative in the United States,” Mr. Paparoni said, though he did not give details about the nature of the US-based fund or the financial institution involved.

Pressure is building on Mr. Maduro, a socialist, to resign amid an economic crisis marked by widespread shortages and hyperinflation. Mr. Maduro was re-elected last year in a vote critics have called a sham.